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Number Ones

Janet's Number Ones CD reminds me why she is a star. It is impossible not to sing and move when listening to her music. Her ballads have such fragile, raw emotions. Her dance music will never be surpassed and her rock is aggressive and powerful. This is a CD that I can't take out of my player. -- Janet and her music

Janet Jackson "number Ones" is her best album yet. This album has rare remixes of her major hits. A good album to have if you like Janet Jackson! -- Janet Jackson best complication album!

Maybe three good songs her whole career. The rest is "I'm Michael Jackson's sister". Also, for "Diamonds", give credit to Lisa Keith, will you? It's the best of the bunch. -- 3 Hits, That's It

I have been in nearly two minds on Janet in the last 12 years since I bought Rhythm Nation 1814 on January 12, 1998 at a used CD Store somewhere in Bethesda. I literally loved it and it literally altered my view of life as I knew it. To this very day, it remains by and large not only my favorite album by her but also my favorite album ever by a female artist and even my favorite by any of the Jacksons, even more than "Thriller". It was very painful, even angering, watching Janet literally crash from the heights of RN, and even Janet and "Velvet Rope" into the awfulness that marred huge chunks of "All For You" and literally soiled my respect after the God-awful "Damita Jo" before undergoing a drastic improvement with "20 Y.O." and even "Discipline" even though neither are superb but nonetheless decent albums, considering how they show out of the shadows of the earlier part of the 2000s. But that's not the point of this review. My point is that "Number Ones" while slightly misleading, is a marvelous successor to the superb "Design of a Decade" and showcases the tremendous rollercoaster ride of Janet's career since 1986's "Control".

Justifyably so, this spans two discs, both of which I enjoy. They span from Janet's first major hit single "What Have You Done For Me Lately", and the adolescent fun of "Nasty", to the dizzying pinnacle that made up the seven top-ten singles from the 1989-90 "Rhythm Nation 1814", all of them which got all the chart success they deserved, and more. An even better treat is how the songs on here are in their single versions. For example, I am so thrilled that they finally added the Heavy-D rap section to "Alright" that was absent on the "Design of a Decade" version. Perhaps my favorite hit song by Janet, "Alright" is perhaps the closest to, if not absolute perfection by any of the Jacksons. The version of "Black Cat" here has a far more live-concert feel with real-sounding drums as opposed to the original studio album version. Many are going to disagree with me on this review but I thought Janet looked really attractive as hell with her attitude and rebellious persona that she exhibited in the video. The right combination of attitude and beauty all culminated with this track and it's subsequent video. I'm sorry but "If" pales in comparison, no offense. Although I find the parent album version with the metallic drums superior, I love all the grinding guitar riffs and the sparkling rock lick from 2:19 to 2:22. The "Rhythm Nation" era is by and large my favorite era that sadly, I doubt, will ever be rivaled again.

A really nice bonus are the tracks "Diamonds" which is on Herb Alpert's "Keep Your Eye On Me" and "The Best Things in Life Are Free". The former is a great song with a somewhat atmospheric feel that feels kind of like the previous year's Human League's "Crash" album era but with Janet's vocals in the background. I find this song to be lots of fun to listen to. The second is "The Best Things Are Free" which is a fast-paced song with a beautiful sunny atmosphere which features a duet with the late Luther Vandross. I think this song helps to make a better transition from the austere heights of "Rhythm Nation" to the "Janet" era.

The final song on the disc is "That's The Way Love Goes" which was far removed from anything she had done before, replacing the intensity of 1989-90 with a slightly mellower, more sultry mood and jazzier production, much more romantic lyrics and calmer feel. I have a lot of great memories of hearing this during the summer of 1993 when I was ten years old. A nice track to close out the first disc.

I have mixed feelings towards the second disc of this album, not so much aobut there being subpar tracks present but primarily because it documents the severe decline in musical quality that dragged one of my favorite female singers so much it damaged my respect for her for years afterwards. Thankfully, the bad material is thankfully overlooked on it and I can actually enjoy it all the way through, even "All Nite (Don't Stop)" is bearable most of the time.

The disc starts of very strong with "If" which is an intense, high-energy song that incorporates rock, R&B, hip-hop, and dance all into one song. For some odd reason, it completely left off "You Want This" which was a top ten single that should've been included on here. Why they overlooked it is beyond me. Oh well. A real treat though IMO is the inclusion of the R. Kelly Remixed version of "Anytime Anyplace". I had been yearning to hear this version of an already sensual classic and having it here is a musical dream come true. This version is a little more energetic, with a slightly brighter, more daytime feel than the original. I've always thought this was great music for rainy afternoons, whether alone or with someone. Of course, who can forget the marvelous duet between Janet and her late brother Michael Jackson on "Scream" from 1995? It's very hard listening to this classic knowing how big a hole was torn with his departure in 2009. "Scream" was backed up by one of my favorite music videos of all time and this ranks perhaps as my favorite duet by any sibling pair and perhaps my favorite brother-sister duet of all time. On the other hand, "Runaway" is a very colorful, very worldly classic that incorporates Japanese, Chinese, African, and her multi-layered vocals layered over the entire track. I love listening to the famous "Yeah....yeah....yeah....yeah!!" chorus throughout the song. After the world tour of "Runaway", we enter the underrated Velvet Rope era with four songs from this era beginning with "Got Til It's Gone". The version on here features Q-Tip's rhyming in the intro as opposed to the normal version on its parent album. Who can forget "Together Again" with it's marvelous video with her red hairdo and the Savannah landscape as the main backdrop. This has such a beautiful blend of jazz, dance, R&B, and pop that stands out all on it's own. It was also a tribute to friends of hers that died of AIDS. "I Get Lonely" and "Go Deep" were the remaining charting singles from this era. Although I did not like Velvet Rope right away and it took nearly a year to finally get into it, it has since gone on to become among my favorite albums of hers and is a marvelous classic.

We then progress onto a marvelous duet with rapper Busta Rhymes with a really great and intense song called "What's It Gonna Be?" which was backed up by one of the best music videos of the late 1990s and arguably among my favorite Janet videos of the last 15 years. Following that is "Doesn't Really Matter" although it is weighed down somewhat by being a rather commercial-sounding song that didn't stick very well in my memory over time and although it's okay, it hasn't aged very well over time. It's not a bad song by any means and at times can be good but when stacked against "Together Again", or "If", or even "You Want This", it leaves a lot to be desired. I do however like it's message about how there's more than what meets the eye and trying to look past superficial appearances. This helps the song IMO.

The disc now takes us into the tremendous slide that became the "All For You" era although thankfully, it focuses on the better songs of this era with the marvelous title track. Although I found the album to be a letdown on my part, the title track is a very catchy, fun song that brilliantly samples "The Glow of Love" and became one of my favorite Janet songs from the 2000s. It's a pity that it was the only single that I ended up liking a lot. The version on here is the video version with that famous break that momentarily morphs into a slightly altered sample of "Pleasure Principle" from 15 years earlier before morphing back into the normal track. I especially love the chime effect that runs from 3:11 to 3:14. "Someone to Call My Lover" is a good song that brilliantly samples "Ventury Highway". We then take a brief trip though the filthy gauntlet that became the "Damita Jo" album which really made turn away from Janet's music for more than a year after that crushing disappointment. Thankfully it gets little representation on this compilation with "All Nite (Don't Stop)" although the cooing and uhhhsss gets really irritating and disgusting for me. The musical aspect of the song is good though. "Call On Me" from the vastly improved "20 Y.O." album has great melody but to me, it was a very poor choice for a first single and the song feels like it was rushed at the very last minute and feels like wasted potential. It's not a bad song IMO but it feels far more like a work-in-progress recording that was suddenly rushed out before it could be developed more. Still, it's a good symbol of Janet making tremendous recovery from the low of the preceding album. As of this review, I haven't really been able to get my hands on a copy of "Discipline" so I can't really give any opinion on it yet as of this review but "Feedback" is a good song with a bit of an experimental dance quality to it although it makes for poor club music but good headphone music IMO. I really liked the solar system-themed video that accompanied.

We finally close this collection out with a frantic, and energetic piece entitled "Make Me" which is a really good song that holds promise for perhaps Janet finally releasing another great album in the near future. This song is very good and definitely a danceable tune with a funky style to it. While far from superb at this point, it holds promise for a return to greatness.

Overall, "Number Ones" is a marvelous retrospective of Janet's first 23-years of superstardom from 1986 to 2009. This collection documents the dizzying heights of 1980s Janet, the chameleon of 1990s Janet, the tumble of early 2000s Janet to the rebounding of "20 Y.O.". Highly recommended for both the "Rebel Janet" camp which I lean towards, and the "Sensual" Janet of 1993-onwards.

-- Walks along the border of perfection!

It seems that it was only yesterday, when a young girl named Janet, from the famous "Jackson Family" of the 1970's, first appeared to the masses in the role of Penny on the CBS-TV comedy sitcom, "Good Times", during the same decade. And now Little Penny, aka "Damita Jo" aka "Janet, Miss Jackson if you're nasty", turns 44 this year, and is still going strong.

This latest "Greatest Hits" 2-CD compilation from the youngest sibling of America's famous music family, is by far, one of the greatest retropectives of a music career spanning 3 decades, for one of the industry's most famous recording artists.

Janet has always surprised us with her music over the years and the singles on this collection (in chronological order by the way) are a perfect example of her place in contemporary recorded music. Although Janet's vocals have never been as wide-ranged or as strong as many of her peers, her music has always covered a wide-range of genres---Pop, Rock, R&B, Ballads and Dance Music.

Janet's albums have always sold extremely well over the years and have never failed to spawn a host of hit singles, all of which are on these 2 CDs. Although ler last 3 albums, "Damita Jo" (2004), "20 Y.O." (2006) and "Discipline" (2008) were major sellers as well, her singles from these last albums failed to make an impact at Top 40 & Urban Contemporary Radio, the way her previous singles have done over the years. Maybe it's a change of the times or the fact that radio has become so "narrow-minded" in its thinking these days or maybe it shows just how much Miss Jackson refuses to change her sound or her musical styles to the boring tastes of today, which is a good thing, and I commend her for that. Whether Top 40 hits or not, all of Janet's big singles are here, even though the album is called "Number Ones"---go figure!

Her 1997 dance hit, "Together Again" (from her "Velvet Rope" album), paid homage to loved ones Jackson had lost to AIDS, and was arranged to celebrate the spirit of those who have passed on, rather than mourn their deaths. Similarly, her latest single, the club-friendly dance song "Make Me", has been meant to pay similar tribute to her brother Michael, after his tragic and "much-to-soon" departure from this world last summer.

Like Michael, Janet too has become a legend in the world of entertainment, through her films, her music and of course her generous charitable contributions over the years.

With Michael Jackson's extremely huge, publicized passing in June 2009, the entire Jackson family, including Michael's children and sister Janet, have all been thrust back into the public spotlight over the past year. As sad as these events have been, Janet's latest disc should pay tribute to a family that has been through so much over the past year, showing us that time, life and the world, do indeed march on, and music, especially that of Janet's and Michael's, should serve as the perfect time capsule through all of this as well.


-- The "Jackson Legacy" Continues!